Superman

Action Comics 687-692

Superman: Man of Steel 22-26

Superman 78-82

Adventures of Superman 501-505

Reign of the Supermen!  Skipping Death of Superman because once again, I’m somehow missing the last two issues of that arc.  (Seriously, where could they have gone?)  Waiting for the trade to come in the mail.

Anyway, this is one of the first big events that I read when I started collecting.  Overhearing a kid talk about it at my new school is how I met my best friend.  (I gave him an omnibus version of this as a groomsman gift at my wedding.)  

So it’s hard to grade this without rose-colored glasses.  But at the end of the day, it’s still a decent story.  Back then, naive me didn’t know if Superman was going to come back.  I didn’t know Reign was an arc, not the new status quo.  It was fun meet each of the four Supermen and not know what was going to happen.

In the re-read, it holds up pretty well.  It’s impressive how many elements have remained a part of the ongoing DCU - Superboy and Steel have gone on to play major roles; The destruction of Coast City led to the fall of Hal Jordan, and the ramifications of that have clearly been monumental.  And the whole thing stands up as a cohesive, coherent story.  (Which, judging from the upcoming Our Worlds at War, is surprisingly harder to accomplish than you’d think.)

There’s some standout art, too.  Dan Jurgens draws an iconic Superman, and whoda thought that Jon Bogdanove, so horrible on X-Factor and ho-hum on FF vs X-Men, would be so perfect for the Man of Steel?

Black Iron (Super)Man.  Love it.

Dan Jurgens w/ his old school Superman.

And of course Tom Grummett on Superboy.  No wonder he would go on to draw Conner Kent’s first solo title, his rendition is still the iconic look.  (Way better than black t-shirt Conner…)

Everything you need to know about Superboy in his debut panel.

His Superman is pretty sweet too.

I'm a sucker for a good flying kiss scene.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Superman: Man of Steel 30, 37

A couple of random issues: A slugfest with Lobo and an encounter with Batmen through time.  Bogdanove is the star (again, who’d have thunk it?), doing impressive imitations of a slew of legendary Batman artists.

That's Kane, Miller, and Adams he's doing right there.  Not bad.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Superman 151-160, 162

The beginning of Jeph Loeb’s very long run on this title, mostly with the wonderful art of Ed McGuinness.  I’ve said many times that Loeb’s the master of internal monologues, and he continues that streak here.  (Though he gets a little too cute with the issue-long recitations of famous speeches; He uses the Gettysburg Address, Kennedy’s inaugural, and FDR’s Pearl Harbor speech.) 

Both highlights are Jimmy scenes:

Issue 160 is trash.  (Bizarro.  I need say no more.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (No for 160)

Rating: Nice (Stupid for 160, cutting)

Action Comics 760-766, 768, 775

Joe Kelly starts his time on Superman’s sister title alongside Loeb.  It’s a lot more mercurial, with massive swings in quality.

Highlights include: Issue 761: Superman and Wonder Woman spending a thousand years in Valhalla fighting a war against demons, and they never hook up.  One the one hand, I love what that says about Clark and his fidelity to Lois.  On the other hand, I’m not sure I buy it at all.  I don’t know where I come down on the believability of it, and that’s why I love the issue.  

Lois is amazing, but her insecurity is understandable.

After a thousand years?  Really?

Issue 766: Batman helps Superman find the kidnapped Lois.  An excellent entry in the “highlight the differences between Bats and Supes to show how much they respect each other” canon.  

I wish Cary Nord did a better job w/ the art.

Issue 775: The classic “What’s so funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?” issue.  Superman versus Kelly’s thinly veiled Authority.  It’s really that good.  I don’t subscribe to the Superman/Batman “I don’t kill” ethos (seriously, Joker should have died years ago), but Kelly convinces me that Superman still has a place in this day and age where the Authority is so extremely popular with its cynical, do-what-we-want, take-no-prisoners attitude.  

Lowlights: Something with Joker showing up in Metropolis and the time where Mary and Captain Marvel Jr go all kooky.  Overall, most of these issues are getting cut.  But, man, those good issues are some of my favorite Superman issues.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No (Yes for 761, 766, 775)

Would read again: No (Yes for 761, 764, 766, 775)

Rating: Really good (766, 775), Good (761), Fine (761(cutting), 764), Boring (762, 763, 765, cutting all), Stupid (768, cutting)